Issued  June  16,  1910. 

U.  S.  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 


FARMERS’  BULLETIN  406. 


SOIL  CONSERVATION. 


BY 

W.  J.  SPIIvLT VIAN, 

Agriculturist  in  Charge  of  Office  of  Farm  Management, 
Bureau  of  Plant  Industry . 


WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT  PRINTING  OFFICE. 

1910. 


LETTER  OF  TRANSMITTAL. 


U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture, 

Bureau  of  Soils, 

Office  of  the  Chief, 
Washington ,  I).  67.,  May  #,  1910. 

Sir:  I  have  the  honor  to  transmit  herewith  a  manuscript  entitled 
Soil  Conservation,  by  Prof.  W.  J.  Spillman,  Agriculturist  in  Charge 
of  the  Office  of  Farm  Management,  Bureau  of  Plant  Industry,  and 
recommend  that  it  be  published  as  a  Farmers’  Bulletin. 

Our  soils  are  by  far  the  most  important  national  resources.  In  this 
bulletin  Professor  Spillman  makes  clear  the  situation  that  confronts  us 
in  view  of  the  fact  that  practically  all  the  more  desirable  farm  land  in 
the  country  has  been  brought  under  cultivation;  and  that  to  meet  the 
increasing  demands  for  food  stuffs,  improved  methods  of  farming 
must  be  used.  Such  methods  must  be  employed  as  are  best  adapted 
to  the  conservation  and  maintenance  of  soil  fertility.  To  these  ends 
there  are  discussed  some  of  the  more  important  factors  determining 
the  improved  methods  of  farm  management  that  must  soon  be  gen¬ 
erally  adopted. 

Respectfully,  Milton  Whitney, 

Chief  of  Bureau. 

Hon.  James  Wilson, 

Secretary  of  Agriculture. 

40G 

2 


CONTENTS. 


Introduction . . 

Disposal  of  land  by  the  Government . 

I  mportance  of  cheap  and  abundant  food . 

Steps  in  agricultural  development . 

Difficulties  in  changing  types  of  farming . 

Exploitive  farming  too  long  continued . . . 

Decrease  in  population  and  abandonment  of  land  in  the  older  States . 

The  present  situation . . 

Conditions  in  older  countries . 

The  solution  of  the  problem . 

Effect  of  live  stock  on  soil  fertility . 

Effect  of  legumes . 

Dependence  on  our  own  resources . 

Examples  of  successful  farming . 

Conclusion . . 

406  3 


Page. 

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Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2018  with  funding  from 
University  of  North  Carolina  at  Chapel  Hill 


https://archive.org/details/soilconservation4014spil 


SOIL  CONSERVATION. 


INTRODUCTION. 


How  to  restore  and  maintain  the  productivity  of  the  soil  is  the  most 
important  phase  of  the  conservation  problem.  We  are  no  longer  a 
new  nation.  We  have  deluded  ourselves  with  the  idea  that  we  have 
unbounded  resources  in  land,  in  forests,  in  mineral  wealth.  We  have 
been  prodigal  in  the  utilization  of  these  resources.  We  must  now 
pay  the  penalty  of  this  prodigality.  In  many  of  our  older  communi¬ 
ties  soil  fertility  has  been  reduced  below  the  point  of  profitable  pro¬ 
duction.  Nation-wide  effort  at  the  present  time,  through  federal  and 
state  agency,  is  directed  toward  the  restoration  of  fertility  in  these 
localities.  On  the  prairies  of  the  West  fertility  is  beginning  to  wane. 
In  order  that  our  heritage  in  the  prairie  country  may  not  follow  the 
descent  of  the  East  and  the  South,  it  is  necessary  that  intelligent  and 
vigorous  effort  be  made  to  farm  correctly.  We  must  cease  abusing  the 
soil.  The  renting  of  land  on  short  leases  for  the  purpose  of  growing 
grain  for  market  is  one  of  the  surest  means  of  reducing  the  produc¬ 
tive  power  of  the  soil.  The  domestic  animal,  with  well-managed  pas¬ 
tures  and  rational  systems  of  crop  rotation,  is  preeminently  adapted 
to  the  development  of  permanent  systems  of  profitable  farming. 
Landowners  must  realize  this  and  must  take  steps  to  improve  renting 
methods  b}^  stocking  farms  with  a  full  complement  of  domestic  ani¬ 
mals,  where  the  renter  is  not  able  to  do  this  for  himself,  and  by  giving 
longer  leases,  whereby  the  renter  may  reap  the  reward  of  intelligent 
management. 


DISPOSAL  OF  LAUD  BY  THE  GOVERNMENT. 

Land  owned  originally  by  the  Government  has,  in  the  main,  been 
wisely  given  into  the  hands  of  millions  of  small  owners,  each  oi 
whom  manages  his  own  holdings  as  an  independent  proprietor,  this 
method  of  disposing  of  the  national  domain  has  led  to  the  rapid  crea¬ 
tion  of  well-distributed  wealth,  it  has  meant  conservation  by  utiliza¬ 
tion  on  the  part  of  a  maximum  number  of  private  owners,  but  the 
very  magnitude  and  richness  of  this  heritage  has  led  to  such  prodi¬ 
gality  in  its  use  that  now,  when  the  period  of  settlement  is  practically 

5 


406 


6 


SOIL  CONSERVATION. 


past,  we  find  ourselves  confronted  with  increased  demands  for  food, 
which  must  be  met  by  soils  that  have  been  depleted  of  much  of  their 
yielding  power.  This  is  an  important  factor  in  the  recent  increase  in 
the  cost  of  food. 

IMPORTANCE  OF  CHEAP  AND  ABUNDANT  FOOD. 

The  problem  of  cheap  and  abundant  food  is  a  fundamental  one  in  all 
industrial  development.  It  was  the  abundance  and  cheapness  of  food 
that  made  possible  the  marvelous  progress  witnessed  in  this  country 
during  the  past  century.  During  the  last  sixty  years  we  have  brought 
into  cultivation  the  largest  and  richest  body  of  agricultural  land  in  the 
world.  While  this  land  was  new  and  rich  the  production  of  abundant 
crops  was  accomplished  at  little  expense  and  with  little  knowledge  of 
the  principles  of  conservation  of  soil  fertility.  This  period  of  exploit¬ 
ive  farming  is  now  past.  The  cost  of  production  is  now  enhanced  by 
low  yields,  or  the  use  of  expensive  methods  of  maintaining  high  yields. 
Whether  the  era  of  cheap  and  abundant  food  is  past  depends  on  our 
ability  as  a  people  to  develop  cheaper  and  better  means  of  production 
than  now  prevail.  We  no  longer  have  unlimited  undeveloped  agri¬ 
cultural  resources.  Future  increase  in  production  must  come  largely 
from  better  methods  of  farming.  Whether  we,  as  a  nation,  shall  attain 
these  improved  methods  after  a  long  period  of  depression,  accompanied 
by  slow  adjustment  to  new  conditions,  as  has  been  the  case  in  older 
countries,  or  whether  we  shall  attack  the  problem  resolutely  and 
intelligently  and  adopt  improved  methods  as  soon  as  the  situation 
demands,  depends  on  the  efficiency  of  those  agencies  that  in  recent 
years  have  been  built  up  in  this  country  with  a  view  to  meeting  the 
problems  of  soil  conservation  and  agricultural  readjustment. 

STEPS  IN  AGRICULTURAL  DEVELOPMENT. 

In  order  clearly  to  comprehend  our  present  position,  it  is  necessary 
to  review  briefly  the  logical  steps  in  agricultural  development.  In 
the  settlement  of  a  new  region  the  pioneer  farmer  brings  with  him 
seeds  of  those  crops  he  cultivated  in  his  former  home  and  the  live 
stock  he  deems  necessary  in  his  new  situation.  In  a  few  years  he  has 
learned  which  of  these  crops  are  best  adapted  to  the  new  environment 
of  soil,  climate,  and  market  facilities.  Then  follows  the  rapid  devel¬ 
opment  of  a  type  of  farming  based  on  one  or  two  crops  for  which 
there  is  a  cash  market.®  The  new  soil  is  rich,  and  for  one  or  two 

a  In  regions  where  transportation  facilities  are  not  favorable  some  form  of  live¬ 
stock  farming  is  usually  followed  until  transportation  lines  are  open,  but  in  new 
regions  the  manure  from  the  stock  is  ordinarily  not  made  use  of,  so  that  the  keep¬ 
ing  of  the  live  stock  is  of  no  importance  from  the  standpoint  of  the  maintenance  of 
soil  fertility,  Where  transportation  facilities  are  available,  the  development  of  an 
exploitive  type  of  grain  farming  is  coincident  with  settlement. 

406 


SOIL  CONSERVATION. 


7 

generations  is  believed  to  be  inexhaustible.  It  is  therefore  exploited 
of  its  fertility  and  a  general  change  of  system  is  instituted  only  when 
waning  yields  begin  to  bring  failure  to  the  less  progressive  element 
in  the  community.  When  this  period  is  reached  a  new  problem 
arises.  Single-crop  farming  requires  little  capital.  A  dwelling,  a  few 
work  stock  and  a  modest  shelter  for  them,  a  little  fencing,  and  a 
moderate  equipment  of  farm  implements  represent  the  necessary  capi¬ 
tal  of  the  grain  farmer  in  addition  to  his  investment  in  land,  and  the 
last  has  usually  been  a  gift  from  a  generous  nation. 

DIFFICULTIES  IN  CHANGING  TYPES  OF  FARMING. 

To  change  to  a  more  conservative  type  of  farming  requires  large 
expenditures  for  new  equipment.  Money  must  be  invested  in  live 
stock,  new  buildings  must  be  erected,  fences  built  where  none  were 
needed  before,  and  new  types  of  machinery  must  be  bought.  Recent 
studies  by  this  Department  indicate  that  on  well-organized  stock  farms 
in  the  Middle  West  the  amount  invested  in  farm  buildings,  exclusive 
of  the  farm  dwelling,  amounts  on  the  average  to  $9.27  per  acre  for  the 
whole  farm,  while  the  cost  of  fences  represents  $4.60  per  acre.  These 
two  items  alone,  therefore,  represent  an  outlay  of  about  $2,220  on  a  160- 
acre  farm.  The  major  part  of  this  expenditure  must  be  met  when  the 
farm  changes  from  grain  growing  to  stock  farming.  The  investment 
in  live  stock  itself  on  such  a  farm  represents  another  sum  nearly  as 
large  as  the  above.  In  addition,  more  labor  is  required,  and  this  labor 
must  be  more  intelligent  and  more  reliable.  Hence  the  change  from 
an  exploitive  to  a  conservative  type  of  farming  is  at  best  a  gradual 
one,  and  requires  unusual  resourcefulness  on  the  part  of  the  farming 
population. 

EXPLOITIVE  FARMING  TOO  LONG  CONTINUED. 

It  is  not  strange,  therefore,  that  in  many  communities  exploitive 
farming  continues  beyond  its  legitimate  life.  In  fact,  such  a  change 
could  hardly  proceed  in  the  older  settled  States  while  the  unbounded 
West  offered  the  renter  and  the  farm  laborer  the  opportunity  to 
acquire  a  home  by  gift  from  the  Government,  on  soil  fertile  enough 
to  permit,  for  one  or  two  generations,  profitable  farming  with  little 
equipment  other  than  energy  and  courage.  At  the  same  time,  the 
nation  as  a  whole  did  not  suffer  from  the  depletion  of  the  soil  in  the 
older  States,  for  the  reason  that  increased  production  on  the  rich  soils 
newly  brought  under  cultivation  in  the  West  kept  pace  with  the  ever 
increasing  demand  for  food.  Hence  it  was  that  the  decrease  in  the 
agricultural  population  and  the  abandonment  of  a  large  part  of  the 
land  formerly  tilled  in  the  Eastern  States  attracted  little  attention. 

406 


8 


SOIL  CONSERVATION. 


Agricultural  economists  looked  with  complaisance  on  the  decrease  in  , 
rural  population,  shown  in  the  following  statistics  taken  from  recent 
census  reports: 

DECREASE  IN  POPULATION  AND  ABANDONMENT  OF  LAND  IN 

THE  OLDER  STATES. 

Gain  or  loss  in  population ,  1890-1900. 


State. 

Rural  a 
(loss). 

Urban 

(gain). 

Maine . . 

Per  cent. 
8.46 
8. 26 
12. 30 

12. 30 

11.30 
11.90 

3. 13 
4.65 

Per  cent. 
40 

49 

59 

60 

35 

53.6 

20.4 

30.8 

New  Hampshire . 

Vermont . 

Connecticut . 

New  York . 

New  Jersey . 

Delaware . 

Ohio . . . 

a  Inhabitants  not  living  in  incorporated  towns  or  cities. 


Similarly,  a  decrease  of  38.1  per  cent  in  the  area  of  improved  farm 
land  in  the  six  New  England  States  between  1880  and  1900  was  not 
regarded  as  a  calamity,  but  as  a  natural  consequence  of  the  opening  up 
of  richer  and  more  easily  tilled  lands  in  the  West,  and  the  development 
of  transportation,  facilities  between  the  grain  fields  of  the  West  and 
the  cities  of  the  East.  In  many  of  the  older  States  a  similar  abandon¬ 
ment  of  land  has  occurred  that  is  not  shown  bv  statistics.  In  most  of 
these  States  the  area  of  improved  land  is  only  25  per  cent  to  40  per 
cent  of  the  total  area.  New  land  has  been  cleared  as  old  land  was 
abandoned.  A  conservative  system  of  agriculture  would  have  kept 
the  older  lands  in  cultivation. 

THE  PRESENT  SITUATION. 

We  are  now  confronted  by  a  new  situation.  The  bringing  into  cul¬ 
tivation  of  new  land  in  the  West  no  longer  meets,  the  loss  due  to 
abandonment  of  older  lands  in  the  East,  combined  with  the  increased 
demand  for  farm  products.  Our  people,  instead  of  remaining  at  home 
and  building  up  impoverished  farms,  still  continue  to  migrate  in  search 
of  virgin  lands.  The  stream  of  migration  which  has  flowed  westward 
since  settlement  began  on  the  Atlantic  coast  is  now  being  deflected 
southward  and  northward.  During  the  past  six  years  an  average  of 
54,000  American  citizens  have  annualty  crossed  over  into  Canada  in 
the  hope  of  finding  new  land  that  would  bring  rich  returns  from  ex¬ 
ploitive  farming.  A  countercurrent  of  migration  is  even  setting  in 
from  the  West  toward  the  East.  A  good  many  western  farmers  are 
selling  their  lands  at  high  prices  and  moving  to  the  cheaper  lands  on 
the  Atlantic  seaboard.  Tension  is  felt  on  all  sides.  The  exhaustion 
of  free  lands  has  increased  the  price  of  land  all  over  the  country.  The 
rising  price  of  land  makes  it  more  difficult  for  the  young  man  with 

406 


SOIL  CONSERVATION. 


9 


slender  capital  to  acquire  a  home  on  the  land;  hence  there  is  an  in¬ 
crease  in  tenant  farming.  The  situation  is  intensified  by  the  prevail¬ 
ing  unsatisfactory  system  of  renting  land.  Leases  are  usually  made 
for  short  terms.  The  renter  has  no  interest  in  maintaining  the  fer¬ 
tility,  for  he  has  no  assurance  that  he  will  receive  the  benefit  of  it. 
He  is  interested  only  in  immediate  results.  He  therefore  proceeds  to 
rob  the  soil  by  exploitive  methods  of  farming  similar  to  those  which 
prevailed  when  the  land  was  first  put  into  cultivation.  As  an  indica¬ 
tion  of  the  prevalence  of  short-term  leases  an  illustration  may  be  taken 
from  a  single  county  in  the  State  of  Ohio.  An  enterprising  newspa¬ 
per  published  in  this  county  makes  a  specialty  of  securing  data  con¬ 
cerning  the  number  of  tenants  moving  from  one  farm  to  another.  In 
the  spring  of  1909  the  announcement  of  such  removals  occupied  a  full 
page  of  very  condensed  reading  matter  in  this  newspaper.  The  paper 
states  that  it  is  the  custom  in  the  county  for  renters  to  remain  only 
one  year  on  the  farm.  Continuation  of  this  custom  means  the  ulti¬ 
mate  ruin  of  both  land  owner  and  renter. 

From  what  has  been  stated  above  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  values 
of  farm  products  have  risen  to  a  marked  degree  in  the  past  few  years. 
This  has  affected  other  industries.  City  people  are  beginning  to  turn 
toward  the  land.  This  department  receives  many  hundreds  of  letters 
annually  from  people  employed  in  manufacturing,  mercantile,  and 
transportation  industries  asking  for  information  that  will  enable  them 
to  become  farmers. 

Not  only  has  the  value  of  farm  products  increased,  but  exports, 
especially  of  breadstuffs,  have  fallen  off'  in  a  marked  degree.  Com¬ 
paring  the  five-year  period  ending  in  1903  with  that  ending  in  1908, 
the  exports  of  corn  and  its  products  decreased  from  135  million  bush¬ 
els  to  82  million  bushels,  a  decrease  of  39  per  cent.  During  the  same 
time  the  exports  of  wheat  decreased  from  212  million  to  114  million 
bushels,  a  decrease  of  46  per  cent.  If  America  is  to  retain  the  favor¬ 
able  balance  of  trade  which  has  characterized  the  past  quarter  of  a 
century,  it  must  be  done  not  by  increase  in  acreage,  as  in  the  past, 
but  b}^  increase  in  yields  per  acre.  We  no  longer  have  unlimited 
areas  of  virgin  soil  to  exploit.  The  question  whether  we  shall  be  able 
to  meet  the  increased  demands  for  food  and  clothing  by  increasing  the 
yields  is  a  pertinent  one.  In  this  connection  the  following  statistics 
are  of  interest: 


CONDITIONS  IN  OLDER  COUNTRIES. 

Average  yields ,  1901  to  1905 ,  inclusive,  in  bushels  per  acre. 


Crop. 

Ger¬ 

many. 

France. 

Great 

Britain. 

Belgium. 

United 

States. 

- - ■ 

Whpflt  . 

28.2 

20.2 

31.7 

34 

13.8 

14.8 
27.0 

30.9 

24.9 

16.8 

34 

46.  f> 

Barley  . 

34.3 

24.0 

34.3 

Oats 

41.1 

32.  0 

44.7 

64.7 

24.  y 

406 


10 


SOIL  CONSERVATION. 


These  figures  show  that  in  the  older  countries  of  Europe,  where 
farming  has  been  followed  for  many  centuries,  the  problem  of  satis¬ 
factory  yields  of  farm  crops  has  been  solved.  The  agriculture  of 
Germany  is  more  nearly  similar  to  that  of  the  United  States  than  that 
of  any  other  of  the  countries  mentioned  in  the  above  table.  It  will 
be  noted  that  the  yield  per  acre  of  wheat  in  Germany  is  more  than 
twice  that  in  the  United  States;  the  yield  of  rye  nearly  twice  as  large; 
the}7ield  of  barley  nearly  a  third  larger;  and  the  yield  of  oats  more 
than  one- third  larger.  It  will  be  interesting  to  know  how  the  German 
farmer  maintains  these  yields.  The  following  statistics  give  us  some 
information  on  this  point: 


Comparative  area  of  different  classes  of  crops  in  Germany  and  the  United  /States. 


Classes  of  crops. 

Germany. 

United 

States. 

Cereals . 

Per  cent. 
52.0 

Per  cent. 

64.  0 

Hay  and  forage . 

a  31  4 

a  21.  3 

Roots . 

13.8 

1.3 

Fibers . 

.8 

9. 1 

Vegetables  and  fruits . 

2.0 

3.  2 

Miscellaneous . „ . 

1.1 

a  Permanent  pasture  lands  not  included,  as  this  item  is  not  available  for  the  United  States. 


It  will  be  noticed  that  the  proportionate  area  of  cereals  grown  in 
Germany  is  about  one-fifth  less  than  in  the  United  States,  while  the 
proportionate  area  of  hay  and  forage  crops  is  one-half  greater.  In 
addition  to  that  the  percentage  of  the  total  area  which  is  planted  to 
root  crops  is  enormously  greater  in  Germany  than  in  the  United 
States.  These  root  crops  consist  largely  of  potatoes  and  sugar  beets, 
and  the  best  German  authorities  estimate  that  at  least  one-third  of  the 
products  of  the  area  of  these  two  crops  is  available  for  stock  feed. 
They  also  estimate  that  one-third  of  the  products  of  the  area  devoted 
to  cereals  is  devoted  to  the  feeding  of  domestic  animals.  Germany, 
therefore,  devotes  very  much  more  of  her  soil  to  the  production  of 
feed  for  live  stock  than  does  the  United  States. 

The  larger  proportion  of  land  devoted  to  raising  feed  for  live  stock 
permits  more  stock  to  be  kept,  as  shown  in  the  following  figures: 


Numbers  of  the  principal  kinds  of  live  stock  maintained  per  100  acres  of  land  on  farms  in 

Germany  and  the  United  States. 


Live  stock. 

United 

States. 

Ger¬ 

many. 

Differ¬ 

ence. 

Cattle . 

16.  3 

29. 1 

Per  cent. 
78 

Horses . 

4.  4 

6.4 

45 

71 

Swine . 

15  1 

25.8 

Sheep  and  goats . 

15.3 

19.9 

30 

406 


SOIL  CONSERVATION. 


11 


Thus,  on  the  same  area  of  farm  land,  the  German  farmer  maintains 
on  the  average  from  30  to  78  per  cent  more  live  stock  than  does  the 
American  farmer.  The  manure  from  these  animals  is  also  better 
cared  for  in  all  European  countries  than  it  is  in  this  country.  Not 
only  that,  the  United  States  exports  vast  quantities  of  cotton-seed  meal, 
linseed-oil  meal,  and  other  rich  nitrogenous  feeding  stuffs,  while 
Germany  imports  vast  quantities  of  these  materials.  German  farmers 
not  only  conserve  their  own  natural  resources  but  they  draw  on  other 
parts  of  the  world  to  maintain  the  fertility  of  their  lands.  America 
has  been  mining  her  soil  and  shipping  the  products  to  Europe.  In 
addition  to  the  sources  of  fertility  above  given,  Germany  uses  annually 
on  her  soil  550,000  tons  of  nitrate  of  soda,  275,000  tons  of  sulphate  of 
ammonia,  1,200,000  tons  of  superphosphate,  and  1,400,000  tons  of 
basic  slag,  in  addition  to  large  amounts  of  potash  salts. 

Conditions  similar  to  those  in  Germany  are  found  in  England,  Bel¬ 
gium,  and  France.  The  farmers  of  these  countries,  by  necessity,  have 
worked  out  the  problem  of  profitable  conservative  farming,  and  espe¬ 
cially  have  they  learned  the  value  of  domestic  animals  as  a  means  of 
conserving  fertility.  We  are  now  confronted  by  the  same  necessities 
that  compelled  the  adoption  of  sound  systems  of  agriculture  in  the 
Old  World.  How  shall  we  meet  this  problem? 

THE  SOLUTION  OF  THE  PROBLEM. 

In  the  first  place,  we  must  increase  the  number  of  domestic  animals 
on  our  farms.  Where  land  is  farmed  by  renters  the  leases  must  be 
made  for  longer  terms,  and  where  the  renter  has  not  the  capital  to 
provide  the  proper  number  of  domestic  animals  these  must  be  sup¬ 
plied  by  the  landowner.  We  must  give  more  attention  to  the  condi¬ 
tion  of  our  pastures.  In  some  parts  of  this  country  pastures  have 
been  overgrazed  until  they  are  nearly  worthless.  This  is  especially 
true  in  some  regions  where  dairy  farming  is  prominent.  Cows  are 
turned  on  to  pastures  too  early,  and  the  grass  is  given  no  chance  to 
make  the  necessary  growth  to  maintain  vitality.  Pastures  which 
formerly  supported  one  animal  on  2  acres  now  support  only  one  on  10 
acres.  This  is  not  universally  true,  but  it  is  true  in  large  areas.  The 
ranges  of  the  West  have  been  depleted  by  overpasturing,  and  in  addition 
are  now  being  settled  by  farmers,  so  that  the  range  area  is  decreasing. 
There  is  a  serious  shortage  of  live  stock  in  that  section,  and  this  short¬ 
age  must  be  met  by  raising  more  young  stock  on  the  farms  of  the  East. 

EFFECT  OF  LIVE  STOCK  OH  SOIL  FERTILITY. 

The  effect  of  live  stock  on  the  fertility  of  the  soil  needs  no  demon¬ 
stration.  It  is  well  known  to  every  intelligent  farmer.  I  p  to  the 
present  time,  at  least,  no  system  of  agriculture  has  been  permanently 
40G 


12 


SOIL  CONSERVATION. 


profitable  without  the  use  of  domestic  animals  as  a  means  of  maintain¬ 
ing  the  productiveness  of  the  soil.  Whether  such  s}rstems  are  possible 
remains  to  be  seen.  It  may  be  that  the  use  of  legumes  and  other 
crops  producing  humus,  combined  with  the  judicious  use  of  commer¬ 
cial  fertilizers,  may  serve  to  maintain  high  yields,  but  the  supply  of 
commercial  fertilizers  is  not  unlimited,  and  ultimately  these  soil 
amendments  will  have  to  he  dispensed  with. 

EFFECT  OF  LEGUMES. 

In  addition  to  increasing  the  number  of  domestic  animals  on 
American  farms  our  farmers  must  pay  more  attention  to  leguminous 
crops  and  to  other  crops  which  provide  a  supply  of  humus  for  the  soil. 
Legumes,  such  as  clover,  peas,  alfalfa,  etc.,  are  especially  important 
because  of  the  fact  that  with  the  aid  of  certain  soil  bacteria  they  are 
able  to  draw  their  supply  of  nitrogen  from  the  air.  Having  thus  an 
unlimited  supply  of  this  valuable  plant-food  constituent,  they  become 
very  rich  in  nitrogen.  The  stubhle  and  roots  of  a  leguminous  crop 
frequently  leave  in  the  soil  sufficient  nitrogen  for  the  needs  of  the 
crop  that  follows.  Recent  investigations  by  this  Department  in 
Kansas  and  Nebraska  show  that  the  average  increase  in  the  yield  of 
corn  grown  after  alfalfa,  compared  with  corn  grown  after  nonlegumi- 
nous  crops,  is  75  per  cent.  A  good  crop  of  clover  has  a  similar  effect 
on  the  yield  of  crops  which  follow  it.  Instances  are  known  where  the 
practice  of  sowing  bur  clover  in  cotton  fields  in  the  fall  of  the  year 
and  turning  it  under  in  spring  in  time  for  another  crop  of  cotton  has, 
in  three  years,  doubled  the  yield  of  cotton.  Crimson  clover  sown  in 
a  similar  manner  between  crops  of  corn  has,  in  a  few  years,  increased 
the  }rield  of  corn  50  per  cent  or  more. 

The  reason  these  leguminous  crops  have  such  a  marked  effect  on 
fertility  in  many  cases  on  depleted  soils  lies  in  the  fact  that  nitrogen 
is  not  a  constituent  of  the  soil  proper,  but  only  of  the  decaying  plant 
and  animal  matter  in  the  soil.  When  soils  are  farmed  for  many  years 
without  an)^  attention  to  their  fertility  this  organic  matter  is  rotted 
out  and  the  nitrogen  disappears.  Hence  nitrogen  is  nearly  always 
the  first  plant-food  constituent  to  become  deficient  in  the  soil. 

The  fact  has  already  been  referred  to  that  we  export  a  large  pro¬ 
portion  of  our  cotton-seed  meal,  oil  meal,  and  other  rich  nitrogenous 
feeding  stuffs.  In  1908  we  exported  linseed-oil  meal  to  the  amount 
of  690  million  pounds,  cotton-seed  meal  929  million  pounds,  and  corn- 
oil  cake  60  million  pounds.  These  materials  are  all  exceedingly  rich 
in  nitrogen.  They  should  be  kept  at  home,  fed  to  live  stock,  and  the 
manure  returned  to  the  land. 


40G 


SOIL  CONSERVATION. 


13 


DEPENDENCE  ON  OUR  OWN  RESOURCES. 

There  is  this  difference  between  our  situation  and  that  of  the  older 
countries  of  Europe:  Hitherto  we  have  been  exporters  of  our  feed 
stuffs  rich  in  fertilizer  constituents,  while  they  have  been  importers. 
They  have  been  drawing  on  the  newly  settled  regions  of  the  world  for 
materials  with  which  to  feed  their  crops.  Now  that  we  have  reached 
the  period  where  we  need  to  do  the  same  thing,  there  are  no  great 
areas  of  virgin  soil  from  which  we  can  draw  such  supplies.  Indeed, 
it  seems  that  the  countries  of  Europe  will  not  always  be  able  to  draw 
on  supplies  of  this  character  from  other  parts  of  the  world,  because 
they  will  soon  be  needed  in  the  regions  where  they  are  produced. 
The  American  farmer  can  therefore  not  hope,  at  least  in  the  near 
future,  to  import  feeding  stuffs  with  a  view  to  enriching  his  land,  but 
he  will  be  making  a  long  step  forward  when  he  quits  exporting  these 
materials  and  returns  them  to  his  own  soil.  Whatever  shortages 
there  may  be  must  be  made  up  by  the  intelligent  use  of  commercial 
fertilizers.  There  is  no  danger  of  a  nitrogen  famine.  We  can  grow 
leguminous  crops  to  supply  nitrogen.  We  can  also,  by  judicious  use 
of  the  refuse  from  grain  and  other  crops  and  by  the  use  of  intelli¬ 
gently  planned  crop  rotations  with  occasional  catch  crops  for  green 
manure,  keep  up  an  abundant  supply  of  humus.  Even  if  we  had  no 
other  resources  for  maintaining  the  fertility  of  the  soil  than  legu¬ 
minous  plants  and  humus-making  crops  we  could,  on  much  of  the 
land  in  this  country,  maintain  a  much  higher  standard  of  yields  than 
obtains  at  the  present  time. 

EXAMPLES  OF  SUCCESSFUL  FARMING. 

Many  examples  could  be  given  of  remarkable  results  accomplished 
on  American  farms  by  the  introduction  of  improved  methods  of  soil 
management.  A  few  instances  will  suffice.  In  New  York  State  there 
are  large  areas  of  lands  which  formerly  produced  satisfactory  crops, 
but  which  in  recent  years  have  been  reduced  in  fertility  to  the  point 
where  their  cultivation  is  no  longer  profitable  by  the  methods  in  vogue 
in  that  section.  Two  years  ago  a  representative  ol  this  Department 
induced  a  farmer  in  that  section  to  grow  4  acres  of  potatoes  under 
his  direction.  This  farmer  had  been  growing  potatoes  for  many 
years,  using  seed  which  had  been  grown  for  sixty  years  in  t  hat  locality 
without  selection  to  maintain  its  quality.  His  ordinary  yields  of 
potatoes  were  about  40  bushels  per  acre.  He  was  induced  to  secure 
new  and  improved  seed  and  to  cultivate  in  the  most  thorough  mannci. 
As  a  result,  these  4  acres  produced  a  yield  of  250  bushels  of  potatoes 
40G 


14 


SOIL  CONSERVATION. 


per  acre.  Similar  results  have  since  been  secured  by  a  number  of 
other  farmers  in  the  same  locality. 

An  Illinois  farmer  a  good  many  years  ago  established  on  his  farm 
a  rotation  of  corn,  corn,  oats,  clover.  The  corn  and  oats  were  fed  to 
hogs,  which  were  allowed  to  graze  on  the  clover.  Very  little  feed  was 
purchased,  but  everything  raised  on  the  farm  was  converted  into 
manure  and  returned  to  the  land.  At  the  beginning  of  this  system 
of  farming  the  yield  of  corn  was  about  35  bushels  to  the  acre.  Ten 
years  later  it  had  risen  to  80  bushels  per  acre,  the  average  yield  for 
four  consecutive  years  being  80.4  bushels  per  acre. 

A  Missouri  farm,  which  had  been  devoted  to  corn  and  wheat  for 
seventy  years,  and  on  which  the  yields  of  wheat  were  about  8  bushels 
per  acre  and  corn  about  25  bushels,  was  subjected  to  a  system  of  farm¬ 
ing  similar  to  that  just  described  for  an  Illinois  farm.  In  six  years 
the  yields  of  this  farm  were  more  than  doubled. 

The  work  of  the  Farmers’  Cooperative  Demonstration  Office  of  this 
Department  shows  that  by  the  utilization  of  resources  at  the  command 
of  every  farmer  enormous  increases  can  be  made  in  the  yield  of  crops. 
Jn  this  work  the  following  points  are  emphasized: 

1.  Deep  fall  preparation  of  the  soil. 

2.  Planting  of  well-selected  seed. 

3.  Mainly  shallow  and  frequent  cultivation  of  the  crop  during  the 
growing  season  and  especially  after  a  rain. 

4.  The  judicious  use  of  commercial  fertilizers  and  the  increased  use 
of  home-produced  fertilizers  and  the  growing  of  leguminous  crops. 

During  the  year  1909,  509  farmers  in  the  State  of  Alabama,  work¬ 
ing  under  the  direction  of  representatives  of  this  Department,  raised 
1,235  demonstration  acres  of  corn.  The  average  yield  was  331  bushels 
per  acre,  while  the  average  yield  for  the  State,  as  shown  by  the  figures 
of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  this  Department,  was  13i  bushels. 

In  the  State  of  South  Carolina  658  farmers  grew  2,718  acres  of  cot¬ 
ton  in  the  demonstration  plats.  The  average  yield  was  1,205  pounds 
of  seed  cotton  per  acre.  In  the  same  State  537  farmers  grew  1,636 
acres  of  corn  in  the  demonstration  plats.  The  average  yield  was  36.1 
bushels  per  acre,  compared  with  an  average  yield  for  the  whole  State 
of  16.7  bushels. 

In  both  these  States  the  yield  of  corn  on  the  demonstration  plats  is 
seen  to  have  been  more  than  twice  the  average  yield  for  the  State. 
The  average  yield  of  cotton  for  the  State  of  South  Carolina  for  1909 
is  not  available,  but  it  is  certain  that  the  }neld  of  cotton  on  the  demon¬ 
stration  plats  is  at  least  50  per  cent  greater  than  the  average  for  the 
State.  These  yields  were  made  by  methods  which  any  farmer  in  the 
South  can  use. 


400 


SOIL  CONSEKVATION. 


15 


CONCLUSION. 

These  facts  show  that  the  main  work  to  be  done  for  soil  conserva- 
tion  in  this  country  is  that  of  teaching  the  farmer  how  to  utilize  the 
resources  at  his  command.  The  methods  to  be  pursued  are,  in  the 
main,  understood  by  leading  agriculturists  and  progressive  farmers 
all  over  the  country,  but  they  are  not  understood  by  the  great  majority 
of  farmers.  The  latter  must  be  taught  by  precept  and  example.  It 
will  take  time  to  bring  about  the  necessary  change. 

The  methods  necessary  in  bringing  about  these  changes  are,  first, 
to  determine  what  types  of  farming  are  best  adapted  to  the  conditions 
prevailing  in  the  different  sections  of  the  country,  and,  second,  to  help 
the  farming  population  to  readjust  itself  to  these  conditions.  This 
readjustment  is  an  expensive  process  to  the  farmer — new  equipment 
must  be  earned  and  more  labor  must  become  available.  Not  only 
must  the  farmer  be  taught  the  principles  of  soil  management,  but  he 
must  be  taught  how  to  take  better  care  of  his  animals  and  how  to 
breed  a  better  class  of  animals.  National  and  state  agencies  are  now 
cooperating  in  this  work  of  teaching  the  farmer  improved  methods. 

Present  conditions  in  America  are  merely  an  incident  in  the  devel¬ 
opment  of  a  new  agricultural  region.  Now  that  the  period  of  settle¬ 
ment  and  exploitation  of  the  soil  is  passed,  we  are  under  the  necessity 
of  developing  systems  of  farming  suited  to  the  individual  soils  in 
order  to  develop  their  highest  efficiency  and  to  make  the  most  of  their 
fertility.  Where  the  last  has  been  impaired,  the  systems  must  be 
adjusted  to  obtain  the  restoration  of  the  highest  possible  productivity 
under  economic  limitations,  while  keeping  in  view  the  best  uses  of  the 
soil  when  the  fertility  has  again  reached  its  maximum.  In  this  read¬ 
justment  we  shall  have  to  draw  on  the  results  of  scientific  investiga¬ 
tion  and  on  the  experience  of  older  nations.  Many  of  our  own  farm¬ 
ers  have  successfully  met  these  great  problems,  and  their  experience 
'now  becomes  a  source  of  valuable  information  to  others.  Fortunately 
our  people  are  intelligent  and  aggressive,  and  there  is  every  reason  to 
believe  that  they  are  capable  of  meeting  the  emergency  which  now 
confronts  us. 


[A  list  giving  the  titles  of  all  Farmers’  Bulletins  available  for  distribution  will  be 
sent  free  upon  application  to  any  Member  of  Congress  or  the  Secretary  of  Agricul¬ 
ture.] 

406 


o 


I 


